Chamber and committees

Since 12 February 2002 one plenary meeting of the Joint Ministerial Committee (JMC), and five meetings of the functional committees have taken place.The Joint Ministerial Committee (JMC) Plenary was held on 22 October in London. The First Minister and I attended. The committee reviewed progress over the past year and reaffirmed its continuing support for devolution despite the previous week's setback in Northern Ireland. The meeting also discussed reform of public services and the Fire Service dispute.The Joint Ministerial Committee (Europe) met on 7 March, 11 June, 27 September and 22 October in London. I attended on 7 March, 11 June and 22 October, and the First Minister on 27 September and 22 October.On 7 March JMC (Europe) discussed the Barcelona European Council and the Future of Europe. On 11 June it discussed preparations for the Seville European Council and the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights. On 27 September the committee discussed the Future of Europe and the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights. On 22 October the committee focused on preparations for the Brussels European Council.The Joint Ministerial Committee (Poverty) met on 18 September in London. Andy Kerr MSP, Minister for Finance and Public Services and Margaret Curran MSP, Minister for Social Justice, attended. The JMC (Poverty) meeting discussed actions to deliver policies for alleviating poverty in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

The Joint Ministerial Committee (JMC) has met in the following functional groups: JMC Poverty, JMC Health, JMC Europe and JMC Knowledge Economy. Each sub-committee consists of UK Ministers, the First and Deputy First Ministers from the Scottish Executive, the Welsh Assembly Government and the Northern Ireland Executive, and other ministers from each administration with an interest in the relevant sectoral area.

The Joint Ministerial Committee (JMC) meets annually and met most recently in London on 22 October 2002. JMC sub-committees meet as and when necessary.

The department expects NHS trusts to consult fully with staff and the public when considering the introduction, and subsequent operation of, car parking charges. Revised guidance is currently under consideration and consultation will be a feature of that guidance.

The information requested is not held centrally.

Numbers of policy analysts (administration grade C1) employed between 1995 and 1999 are given in the following table.Count of admin C1 officers, Scottish Office core departments. As at 1 April 1995 - 1999

Year	Count
1995	152
1996	164
1997	171
1998	177
1999	217

Numbers of policy analysts (administration grade C1) broken down by department are given in the following table.Count of permanent admin C1 officers, Scottish Executive core departments, by department, as at 1 April 2002

Department	Count
Total	259
Finance and Central Services	41
Environment and Rural Affairs	41
Development	39
Health	35
Enterprise and Lifelong Learning	32
Education	28
Justice	17
Corporate Services	16
Ministerial Group	4
Centrally Managed Staff	6

Numbers of policy analysts (administration grade C1) employed between 1999 and 2002 are given in the following table.Count of permanent admin C1 officers, Scottish Executive core departments as at 1 April 1999 - 2002

Year	Count
1999	217
2000	227
2001	234
2002	259

Monitoring and reporting performance against local waiting times targets is likely to be most effective when carried out by individual NHS boards and trusts. The National Waiting Times Unit is currently working with NHS boards on developing local waiting times standards which will focus on tackling the longest waits for first out-patient appointments with a specialist and for diagnostic tests. Information about performance against these local standards will be included in the National Waiting Times Database, which the unit is currently developing, and which will be available by the end of 2002.

Members of the Implementation Support Group have been meeting regularly with trust representatives to provide advice and guidance on producing rotas that are New Deal compliant.

The Scottish Executive requires trusts to report on compliance with the contractual requirements of the New Deal for junior doctors and available data covers whether junior doctors meet the limit of 56 hours per week. Considerable efforts have been focussed on ensuring that accurate information is recorded and gathered from trusts on this key objective.It is the responsibility of trusts to ensure compliance with New Deal. Trusts are currently further updating their information systems to ensure that working patterns of junior doctors, including the average hours worked, are recorded for junior doctors.